SEO Tutorial – The importance of links for your site

- One of the most important aspects of SEO is links.
As search engines crawl the digital world
they find links pointing to other content
and just as we do with a tap or a click,
they can be off to discover what's there.
Search engines take note of these links
because if you think about it,
each link can be considered a vote of confidence
for whatever it points to.
It's someone saying to their visitors,
there's valuable information behind this link.
Let me show you the way there, but not every vote is equal.
Remember that some sites are considered more authoritative
and trustworthy than others, and in this weighted democracy
those votes count for more.
In SEO, there are really just two things that matter
with respect to links,
the number of links you have pointing to you
and the quality of those links.
Generally speaking, you'll improve
your search engine visibility
by increasing your link popularity.
The more quality links you have
pointing back to your content,
the more authoritative your site will be to search engines
and the more likely they'll trust your pages enough
to recommend them to their users.
But you can have all the links in the world
and it won't matter unless those links are of high quality.
One thing search engines look for to determine link quality
is how relevant the link is to the content on the pages.
For example, if you run a recipe website
and you end up with a food blog linking to you,
the search engine has no trouble with that relationship.
It makes perfect sense that a food blog
would link to a recipe website.
But if you went out and told your friend who owns,
say a pet supply website to put a link
on their site over to yours to "help you with your SEO",
that's going to be a little harder to justify.
Since that thematic connection isn't very strong,
a search engine may not place as much value on that link.
Search engines also look at the link text itself
or what's known as the anchor text.
That anchor text serves as a pretty good clue
as to what the content on the other side is all about.
For example, if a link uses anchor text
like California backpacking tips, without even clicking
you've got a pretty good idea
of what you're going to see if you do.
Now, think about all the times you've seen websites
waste that opportunity with anchor texts
like link or click here.
Unless that page is really about links or clicking here,
there's some optimization waiting to happen.
Another indicator of quality is around timing and trends.
Search engines expect quality sites
to naturally and continually gain a steady amount
of good links from a variety of domains over time.
So if a bunch of links to your site
showed up on the internet two years ago
from a small number of domains
and you've had nothing since then,
your content may be considered stale,
less authoritative and less trustworthy.
Or if you've never had anyone linked to you ever
and then one day there's a pattern
of a hundred new links showing up
from a bunch of random blogs on the same day every month,
the search engines are going to find out
that you've probably hired some shady character
to buy you a bunch of links every month.
This is probably a good time to say
that it is highly recommended
that you not try to trick the system or use what are known
as black hat methods.
Even though there are plenty of bad actors out there
willing to take your money to try,
Search engines are aware of just about every technique
that's ever existed
and there are some very real penalties
for getting caught trying to manipulate the system.
System penalties can be anything from dropping your rankings
for minor infractions to dropping you
from the entire index for egregious violations.
Remember, search engine optimization
is not something you do for short-term gain.
It's something that you build upon day after day
to create long-term value.
And last, while links are an important way
for content to be referenced and shared,
today's online world is largely social.
Search engines can also see sharing of great content
across many of these platforms,
and while not a traditional link
with a clickable anchor text,
this sharing is also a signal of valuable content.
Understanding your audience,
knowing the keywords that they're using,
and creating unique and valuable content
are the foundations of good SEO,
but earning the links and references
back to all that great content
is what really shows search engines
just how trustworthy and authoritative you really are.
The links on and within your own website,
as well as external ones coming from people and sites
around the web are extremely important to search engines
and building them can be a unique challenge.
First, let's look at the links
that you do have control over.
How you link to pages on your own site
helps search engines understand your structure,
the topics and themes of your content,
and the relative importance of each of your pages.
We can classify internal linking into two different types,
navigation links and contextual links.
Navigation links are a part of your site's framework,
links found on every page
like menus, footers, or even breadcrumb trails.
Within your pages, you'll also have contextual links.
These are the links found in the content of a specific page
that point to other pages of your site.
Contextual links help users
by referencing other relevant information,
but they also help search engines.
Search engines can look at the anchor text
of an internal link to better understand the content
of the page on the other side
and the number of internal links
pointing at a piece of content
is a good sign of just how important it is.
Now, let's talk about the external links
from around the web that you don't control.
Directories are a common way
of generating links back to you,
but you're going to want to be selective here.
Well, there are good ones out there that are trustworthy
in the eyes of search engines,
there are also lots of spammy ones out there to avoid.
A good litmus test is whether or not the directory
conducts an editorial or review process
and only accepts relevant and trusted websites.
One good example is the local business directories,
where you can submit and manage your information
with the different search engines directly.
Another good example would be trusted and well established
industry specific groups that maintain member
or resource directories unique to your market.
But perhaps the best way of building links
is to entice other websites
to link to all of your fantastic content.
Remember, in a search engine's eyes,
a link from a reputable source is a big vote of confidence.
Another relevant quality website saying,
wow that content is so good,
that I'm going to send my users there.
Sometimes great content attracts links naturally,
but often a little outreach can help.
Leveraging your newsletter, your blog, your networks,
and social connections to share new content
can help get the word out, but don't stop there.
Try to find other websites
that target the same audience as you.
Maybe there's a professor at a university
doing research in your field
that maintains a well respected blog
or an industry association
looking for this month's showcase article
or a customer that would like to link back
to a piece you did highlighting your work together.
Reach out and let them know that you have content
that their audience would find interesting and useful
and you might just earn a very relevant
and trustworthy link.
Next, remember your social channels.
This kind of sharing acts a lot like a link
in conveying trust and importance.
To search engines, social sharing is a signal
that identifies content that people like and find valuable,
so use those share buttons and your own social influence
to get your content out there and passed around.
Another great way to find new linking opportunities
is to analyze the back links of other sites
that are already ranking well for a target keyword phrase.
The logic here is pretty simple.
By examining the links that are helping
to drive well ranking sites,
we might find some that we'd like to get too.
The first thing to do is search for a term
that you'd like to rank better for.
Then look at the top results
and analyze who is linking to those pages.
This helps you determine if any of those links
would be good opportunities for you as well.
There are some tools that can help do this,
like Moz's link explorer,
where you can see a page or domains back links,
and focus on those with high page end domain authority.
Scroll around and you might uncover directories
you didn't know, about opportunities for guest authoring,
or any number of other possibilities.
You should also be on the lookout for nonprofits.
Donations, in kind work, or other relationships
with these organizations can be opportunities
to highlight your contributions with the link back to you.
These, along with educational and government entities
are generally considered very trustworthy
by the search engines.
Last, keep in mind
that there are some bad ways to build links
and you can be penalized for doing this the wrong way.
As a general rule, if it feels like
you're trying to cheat the system, don't do it.
Eventually, odds are good that you'll get caught.
So don't fall prey to companies out there
offering to sell you a thousand back links a month
or post whatever you want them to
on their blog network in exchange for their fee.
Don't trade links with perfect strangers
that have nothing to do with your business or your content.
As with most things,
common sense should keep you out of trouble here.
Links are an integral part of any good SEO strategy.
Creating and managing the internal navigational
and contextual links that you control,
along with spending the time to analyze and focus
on high quality external back link opportunities over time,
will make sure that you are on the path
to having a trustworthy link profile
that will be a long-term asset for you and your website.
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